To be an Assassin
by Confureku
Summary: Sometimes love isn't what saves you. Sometimes the only thing you can rely on is yourself, your own strength, and hope that it will be enough, as one girl who goes to ancient Japan learns.
1. Trampoline of Doom

A grunt was heard as a young woman pushed with all her might. "Come on!" she growled through clenched teeth. "Just a little bit further!" Finally, the large object moved one inch over the dusty ground and the girl stopped, straightening out her sore back and dusting her hands off. She looked over her work, proud at the incredible feat of pushing a huge trampoline by herself. Nodding in accomplishment, the girl picked up her smooth, curved stick off the ground.   
  
  
  
She glanced up at the side of her house. That should be high enough. With a new resolve she walked over to a ladder, put the stick in her mouth, and began climbing up the two stories that was her house. She was Tara Jenkins, eighteen years old, attending college, and still lived with her parents.   
  
  
  
Tara reached the roof and stepped carefully onto the smooth metal that covered it. Walking up a ways, she slipped and fell on her butt, nearly sliding over the edge. After that near fiasco, she decided that perhaps she should climb up on her hands and knees. When she reached her desired spot, she tentatively placed each tennis shoed foot on the scalding metal.   
  
  
  
The sun was high in the sky, and the day hot. It was perfect. Tara took the stick out of her mouth and gripped it with both ends, pointing the smaller end at an invisible opponent before her. Tara, however, did not see a stick, she imagined it as more of a sword than anything. Ah yes, she would kill her opponent with her deadly moves. There was only one problem with this. Most of her moves WERE deadly……………………… to herself.  
  
  
  
She leaned as far as gravity would allow her to without falling, looking over the edge of the roof. Everything was set, the trampoline was lined up perfectly. She would finally be able to execute a move so cunning, so deadly, so difficult, that she had never been able to do it before. At least, she wasn't able to do it from the ground: she was unable to jump high enough.   
  
  
  
Tara smiled to herself, yes, this would be excellent. Gathering up her courage, Tara closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath. Now was the moment.  
  
  
  
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu!" she began.  
  
  
  
She opened her eyes and began to run down the glistening metal that was the roof, careful not to slip. As she reached the edge she hurtled herself through the air.   
  
  
  
"Ryu Sui Sen!"  
  
  
  
Tara's "sword" was held high above her head as she fell through the air towards the trampoline. Glee filled her eyes as she executed the move, her feet touching the trampoline surface. Of course, she would never be able to be as good as Kenshin, in fact, her executing this move would most likely only do damage by making the enemy laugh itself to death, but she was quite happy with herself.   
  
  
  
All of these thoughts ran through her head in an instant as a broad smile planted itself firmly on her face. She didn't realize until it was too late that she had sunk far into the trampoline and now it was ready, like a sling shot pulled to its limit, ready to release its rock.   
  
  
  
It began slowly, this slingshot action. The dipping stopped and slowly began to reverse. Instead of giving to her weight, it began to fight against it. Her eyes widened as everything seemed to move in slow motion. It seemed to be taking forever as the large dip slowly began to straighten itself out. A single word ran through her mind. Oops. And then she was fired off of it at an incredible speed for something as simple as a trampoline, with her stick still held firmly between two hands.   
  
  
  
"KIIIYYYAAAA!" she screamed as she sailed through the air at an odd angle, flying far away from the house and the trampoline. She began to descend as slowly as she had been thrown. Looking below, her eyes widened even more. Ground. Solid, rocky ground awaited her, not the giving springs of the trampoline.   
  
  
  
Her last thought was "This would never happen to Kenshin," as she hit the ground and blacked out. 


	2. Rabid Panda

Tara was aware of a sharp pain in her side. It was quite a persistent pain. It would go away and then come back again, sharper than before. She was slowly aware of somebody talking to her.  
  
"Oy! Get up!" it cried. Tara opened her eyes and saw an old man whose back was bent, staring down at her, poking her with a walking stick.  
  
"What are you doing in my yard!" he asked grumpily. Tara rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things. His yard? Had she landed in the neighbor's yard? She sat up slowly and stood, testing her legs and finding that, to her joy, they weren't broken.  
  
"I'm sorry," she began. "I must've landed in your yard when I flew off the trampoline. I didn't realize that I flew so far."   
  
The man looked at her as though she were a nutter. "What are you talking about? All this nonsense. You can't fly. It's impossible for humans to fly!"  
  
Tara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "No, I mean I flew from a trampoline on accident."  
  
"Trampoline? Do you need a doctor girl? I think you've lost your mind."   
  
Tara gave in and rolled her eyes this time. "No thank you. I'll just leave okay?" As she walked away the old man continued to stare at her suspiciously, as though she might turn around and attack him at any moment. She sighed and dusted her butt off as she walked. She stepped into the road and stopped, for the first time actually looking around her.   
  
People walked busily through the street, some pushing carts, others holding baskets, and still others trying to sell things. Her jaw dropped. These people were wearing kimonos. Oh dear god, where was she? Tara hesitantly walked forward, traversing through what she deemed a market. It looked just like the one in her Rurouni Kenshin DVDs.   
  
Tara looked up at the sky, wondering how long she'd been out, and was surprised to see that it was getting dark. She didn't recognize anything around her as she walked further into the town.   
  
Finally, she decided on an action. She would just walk to the edge of the town and hope that she recognized her surroundings enough to find her way home. Her parents were going to kill her, especially if they saw the trampoline………………….   
  
She searched the faces around her as she walked, hoping to see a familiar face that could help her out, but could recognize nobody there.   
  
Fifteen minutes later she reached the edge of the town. It was getting dark very quickly. She scanned the area, but still did not recognize anything. Well this sucked……….. ……… It looked like she was going to have to spend the night outside. She settled down next to a tree at the edge of a forest and realized, to her intense dismay, that she didn't have her stick with her. She must've left it in that old man's yard.   
  
She would go back in the morning and look for it, she decided, but for now she was tired and needed sleep. And soon she got just that.   
  
Tara shifted. She was quite uncomfortable, her arm having gone numb at some point in the night from her odd position. She lifted her numb arm with her other hand and let it fall to the ground. Heat was on her face from what she guessed was the morning sun. Tara was just about to go to sleep when she was alerted to a new discomfort. She REALLY had to pee.   
  
She opened her eyes, then closed them. She opened them again. Tara could see. Everything was dark, blurry. It seemed to be red all around her with no shapes, just a red blur. She began to panic. 'Oh god, I'm blind.' That thought quickly left her mind however, as she realized that she was able to see red everywhere.   
  
'Okay, I'm bleeding, my blood has flowed into my eyes. Why am I bleeding?'  
  
Tara sat up quickly off the ground, shutting her eyes tightly. She lifted her hand up to her forehead, preparing to wipe blood from it, but her hand came in contact with only her own skin. She opened her eyes and all was clear as she saw a dead, red leaf flutter to her lap. She wanted to smack herself in her stupidity. Oh well, she was wide awake now, might as well get up.   
  
She stood and looked around for a place to pee, unfortunately it seemed like the forest was her only option. Tara sighed in exasperation and began to seek out a suitable bush.  
  
After she had finished her business, she walked towards the town again, heading in the direction that she thought the old man lived.   
  
She was about halfway through town, however, when a tantalizing smell caught her attention. Her stomach grumbled loudly as she looked longingly over at the doors to a restaurant. Did she have any money? She stuck her hands into her jean pockets, digging around, but was disappointed again when all she came up with was pocket lint.   
  
Then, for the first time, Tara noticed the odd looks she was getting. People were looking at her as though she had a piece of broccoli sticking out of her nose. She looked down at herself, realizing how differently she was dressed from everybody else. She began to walk again, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. The smell of another restaurant caught her nostrils and her stomach let out another growl, louder this time.   
  
She began to drool with longing as her legs carried her, without her knowing, towards the open door. Before she knew what she'd done, she was seated at a table in a place that looked slightly familiar to her. A woman brought her some food and she ate it greedily, not noticing the looks she was getting for practically inhaling her food.   
  
It wasn't until she was done that her brain caught up with her. I have no money. I already ate the food. I'm going to be arrested. My parents won't bail me out just so that they can teach me a lesson. I'm going to become the girlfriend of some woman named Joe. I'm dead. Tara fought down panic as she devised an escape plan.  
  
'Run. Am not good at running. Will trip and be caught. Say hello to Joe. No. I'll pretend to die. No, that only works on animals and stupid people. Are these people stupid? Better not chance it. Hide? Under the table? No, it's too short. Cushion? No, won't cover me. Ok. What would Kenshin do? Pay. Not an option. Hmm. Sanosuke would leave. But he can beat people up. I'll be meeting Joe shortly at this rate. Window? Windows are small. One next to me. Can try.'   
  
Tara stood quickly and dove for the window.   
  
'Ok. Am stuck in window. Butt too big. Need diet. Window is small. Need butter for butt. Don't have butter. Must try. Nope, most definitely stuck. Shit. Am going to die.'  
  
  
  
She felt someone grab her legs and tug her out of the window, causing her to plop to the ground with a loud thud. She looked up into the questioning eyes of a suspicious woman. It was the woman who had served her to be exact.  
  
  
  
"What are you doing?" the woman asked, her eyes narrowing.  
  
  
  
Tara's mind raced. "I…………… I saw a rabid panda attacking a poor defenseless little boy……………… I thought I should help…………….. It seems that they've got it under control now though………………… heh heh……………………… "  
  
  
  
The woman looked at her sternly. 'Okay.' Tara's mind said. 'Option B. Run."  
  
  
  
Tara bolted past the woman and ran out the door, tearing down the streets. She heard someone yelling after her, but ignored it until she was out of sight. As she as she was sure she'd gotten away, she stopped running and looked behind her, now only jogging. She smiled in triumph until she ran into something hard, knocking it down and falling down herself.   
  
  
  
Tara squeezed her eyes shut as she fell down on top of something. Correction, someone, it was moving. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a pair of purple ones staring back at her. They seemed oddly familiar.   
  
  
  
She remained still, not moving to get off of the man that she had landed on. She was brought out of her trance when he started to shift beneath her, trying to scoot out from under her. Laughing nervously, she got off of him and offered him a hand. He took it and stood up.  
  
  
  
"Sorry!" she cried.  
  
  
  
"It is alright. It was my fault, that it was."  
  
  
  
"No, no it was mine, I should've watched where I was going," She said, looking down. Her mind stopped after she said those words. That is was? That sentence structure sounded familiar. She looked up but the man had already walked away. She caught a brief glimpse of red hair and her heart stopped. Kenshin? Tara felt as though she were going to pass out.  
  
  
  
'WHAT DO I DO?!' she screamed at her mind.  
  
  
  
'Follow him, duh!' it answered. So Tara started after the man quietly, making sure that he didn't see her as she tailed him through the market. 


End file.
